Captain Kitten

It's so funny how people still don't get that the clouds actually react and behave according weather conditions and are a living breathing thing. You can dislike these as much as you want, yes they are under development still, but it's different conditions. Same clouds different setting.

b59 beta testers screenshots

b57 / b58 beta tester screenshots

Still b57.. b58 is a tough one but getting there. As soon as I have mid WIP from b58 I'll post those as well.

We were on the straight to the last chikane but had to turn off the track and have a rethink at the diner. We realised that our tools for finalizing the cloud shapes was very dull. So we are now sharpening them. You can read more over in discussions and the "where are we now" post.

No. More in term of night lighting, haze, fog and cloud blending and general tweaks to make the night look good. Moonlit nights and so on. Some of these have been worked on already but night environment update comes later. We just want volumetric atmosphere to stand on its feet now.

Night flying is always supported. Night environment is a whole other update though.

b57 beta test member screenshots dump

Still b57 betatesters screenshots

So, this is why you don't hear from me these days: Yep, we had to take a pit stop at the Devils diner and rethink a limitation we have been working with since day one of volumetric rendering: The base shape of the clouds. Let me paint a picture for you - you add a basic shape to 3d space, randomize it's appearence and scattering. Then you add a level of magic plus noise to further randomize the shapes and scattering of the clouds. The niose levels is one thing we have worked a lot on but we sort of lack the versatility of the resulting shapes. (Concerns all cloud types btw) In this game you need to finish with style - not just on best time. (obviously). So here is what we are doing these days (In the Devils diner) and will do probably do the rest of this week before we get back on the track to finish this race: These are the base cloud shapes we have had up until now (one type of the set of clouds). As I mentioned they get vastly more complex when adding the rest of the xEnviro layers. Base cloud shape from t01 until b57: So we add complexity to the base cloud shapes and get this: b58 and onward will probably get something similar to this: So again - we will be adding the rest of the distortion - noise and magic layers on top. This will be done with performance in focus as we have been all along. We haven't really decided on minimum requirements yet and performance will not determined before the very end of the development.

1/ a functional turbulence slider because light or GA aircraft are uncontrollable. 1.10 is nothing like 1.09 or previous. Everything is refined. 2/ a correct atmosphere model because the problem of the horizon shift slider. Horizon shift slider had nothing to do with atmosphere model. It was a complete necessity for the old 2d tech to even work with noise rendering. That's why we went for volumetrics. EVERYTHING is redone. And there is no horizon shift issues. 3/ discover the new volumetric cloud technology, personally I prefer to have clouds with acceptable appearance and good FPS. That is what we are working on among other things and that is why it takes time.

If I were to use any kind of visual enhancements in addition to xEnviro in the screenshots presented, then that would be purely lying. Also, the beta testers have strict instructions never to use any other addons than xEnviro for visuals.

If you want to express your opinion about the readyness of what you see then educate yourself first and read the second comment here:

b57

b56 Beta tester screenshot

I suggest you read this There will never be an ETA

X-Plane default + xEnviro 1.10b56 + OrbX South - Flying Iron Spitfire (see a review here)

b52 - b56 Beta tester screenshots

mid build and test b53 I could have updated this one a bit more. Too much to do, too little time. So I'll write a bit about where we are and where we are going now. But first I'd like to explain why the streams have looked so much worse than the images published. Well, the start of the streams anyway. If you actually look at the whole streams we do find better places to show the more beautiful sides of xEnviro 1.10. But not every streamed version was a beauty and some videos from earlier versions looked better.. Why? Here is why: xEnviro development is not a streamlined build. It's not like a painting that goes from nothing, through basic and then gets prettier. The most common misconception of the development of xEnviro 1.10 is perhaps the tendency to compare it to other development cycles. Such as game development or in our community: Scenery and Aircraft. In general development you mostly know what has to be done. You have a clear view of how each step looks. It’s a very concrete set of LEGOS which are steps on the way to the final build and you build each step and test fit for final assembly. First you model, you take the modeling in sections and you can roughly estimate a time frame. Same with systems. You take systems one by one, section it and get a rough idea of time estimate. Add two months to the total and you have an ETA. In xE you can break down the final build in to layers. Each layer has their own set of LEGO bricks that need to fit for that layer and they all need to be tested before they are further test fitted with the other layers. If something does not fit, you need to reopen one or both of those base layers to get progress on that part of the development. Now imagine doing this with between 15 and 20 layers. And do all of this with no tools and just math formulas that might be so sensitive that one wrong number or decimal placement crashes every layer around it. You don’t have a manual for where to search or troubleshoot because you invented the program. Now try to adapt the above to fit inside a box that is changing shape while you are developing. Low res back layer, sky layer, haze layer, albedo layer, “secret magic layer”, shadows layer, perspective layer, ground haze layer, sun layer, cloud data layer, cloud color layer, volume shadow map layer, volume light map layer. (Some of these consist of several layers at different depths) So the fact that every beta looks different and is not linear from one stage to the next should be a bit clearer to you now. B42 may look fantastic while b49 has had adjustments to it that made clouds look vastly different. It’s not just a matter of adding a resolution slider or any slider for that matter anymore either since every calculation affects other formulas in different layers. It all must fit. Well, where are we? For the Nürburgring analogy: We are on the final straight about to pass the DevilsDiner and the RingTaxi parking. It’s full throttle down the tarmac but we need to plan the final curves before the finish line. It’s a bit foggy and the track is damp. From experience we know that we can be cought out by sudden rain. Still no ETA? no As I mentioned Q1 as a realistic release period I meant it but I am still eating my own words on that one. Even if I never said I was certain. Q2 is now the next hat I will eat. Thing is: We want this out. Oh believe me we want this to be done with. We want to move on to the next part of our project(s). We are far from done when this releases.

Its not possible to ensure this before release and before Vulcan is actually released. We are prepared for vulcan. Thats about the extent I am going in to that part of development. To add to this we will not concentrate on anything else than getting this release on its feet. Anything delaying release is not in any form of priority.

And some from b51 by a beta tester

b52 Even though I was gone the team has not been idle. I'm still on my way home from my trip so don't consider this a thorough update. Just wanted to share three screens from this weekend's progress. (ignore artifacts and weird reflection on aircraft)

b48, b50 & b51 beta testers screenshots I will be on a business trip to Denmark this weekend and not able to post any progress screenshots or updates. I'll be back next week and hopefully have some good news for you guys. A further analogy Nurburgring update might be done upon request. And a small insight in to what we have left to work on. When I'm back that is. For now, take care

b50